For Prosperity's Sake

Here's a photo journal of our Christmas holiday:

At Nana and Papa's house ready to head to church on Christmas Eve

HJ bumped her head

Poppy arrived from Florida just before we left

Christmas Eve dinner

Just about the only bite she ate!

The next morning finding gifts from Santa! That's the ONE THING AE asked for, a Tinkerbell jewelry box. All she wanted, but NOT all she got!

HJ with her Snow White doll from Santa

Crooning

Just the beginning of the "Nana Claus" presents

Love this picture of the JOY of giving! See Nana's face!

Paw paw

Mema

Papa totally surprised!

Determination

Uncle C. was a present himself!

Uncle Matt Matt gave the girls

some pom poms

to do some cheers (see him in the background?).

One little Tiger and one Volunteer!

Poppy bought the cheerleader uniforms, and the girls did not change for 24 hours (except to sleep!).

After opening all our presents, we curled up to watch Up.

My dad and brother both came in town to spend Christmas at The Daddy's parents' house. I'm so thankful how well our two sides of the family get along and how willing they are to share the holiday with us!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve: The Daddy's Family

Day 24: Candlelight Service, Big Meal and Party Crackers

It's Christmas Eve morning and we're about to become a full house at my in-laws. Uncle C. came from California last night, my dad and my brother are driving in from their respective states. All the bedrooms are full. There's no room at the inn.

This afternoon, we'll go to "our church" for the candlelight service. The Daddy and I have done this together for the past 8/9? years. After church we'll come back to a house buzzing with a party atmosphere and Christmas goodies that abound this time of year. The Daddy grandparents will be there, too.

And we'll have punch. Shrimp cocktail. Sugared pecans, roasted seasoned nuts, pralines, cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies, ham, marinated broccoli and tomato salad and a myriad of other treats and staples.

We'll eat and laugh.

We'll wear our crowns from our crackers.

(ever done these before?)

We'll tell jokes.

We'll eat some more.

We'll see our girls' eyes light up with excitement that TOMORROW is finally Jesus' birthday!

If you don't remember my family's traditions, go back and see how different our family's Christmas eve traditions are.

Just One More

Day #23: Think you've bought all the presents you need, realize you don't and GO TO THE MALL

I think this one speaks for itself.

Add to it: FIND APPROXIMATELY 20 GIFTS FOR YOURSELF.

BUY THREE. Just three, I mean.

I'm Late

Day 22: Decide to leave a day early for Christmas vacation

Scheduled to leave at 8:00 am Wednesday morning, The Daddy says to me, "Why don't we go ahead and make the drive up to Atlanta today?"

Mind you, it's 3:30 pm on Tuesday, the girls are napping, I haven't packed A THING and even have a load of laundry in the washer.

Of course, honey!

So we left promptly at 5:50 pm.

And we made it safely by 1:00 am.

Hello, Georgia!

And Now a Time of Reflection

Hey,

Remember that time we decided to move?

And then we forgot to defrost the refrigerator in the garage before the movers came?

And then said refrigerator sat in storage for a couple of months in HOT-lanta?

And then we had a "beautiful" mossy surprise inside said refrigerator?

Well, I got to clean it today.

Day #21: Take some time to stroll down memory lane

One thing I love to do with the girls is show them pictures-on the computer- of things we have done recently. Even more fun is doing a "year in review" with them, starting with Christmas last year.

They love it.

And it makes Mama a bit weepy.

But they love it.

Just a few more days now...

Eating Glue

Day #20: Have a Mishap with the Tree

If you have children or animals, it's bound to happen. The girls have a cute little pink one in their room right now, and there are a few less ornaments on it tonight.

Remember these???

We have a little girl who, after making those ornaments 10 days ago, ate half the marshmallows off them. So we took them off the tree.

Then, she climbed up on a chair and got them off the kitchen counter to resume eating them later the same day.

Lordy, lordy. What a nut.

Those ornaments are out on the curb ready for pick up in the morning.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Day #19: Drink Hot Chocolate

With a "small" side of marshmallows

What did they eat first?

Easy to tell...

AE took a few sips only spilling a little.

Then I got out the straws.

So sweet.

So yummy.

I just want to eat them up!

Recipe Collections

Day #18: Gather Holiday Recipe Favorites

When I opened up the bag of treats AE was sent home with yesterday, I panicked when I saw this:

I thought, "Oh, NO! I never sent in a recipe. They must have asked for these before we enrolled AE. Surely, I did NOT miss a note sent home asking for a recipe."

Then I turned the page and read the first recipe by the other little girl in AE's class:

Evidently, her mother feeds her healthy foods. Fourteen hours IS a little long to "warm" your turkey sandwich, though.

Here is AE's "recipe":

I thought she did really well. She even knew the oven should be set to the very precise "so hot" setting.

Then I turned the page to read this little boy's entry:

It especially delighted me to see him refer to Wal-Mart as "WalMarts"!

This project was so cute, and if I ever get pushed into being a ROOM MOM, I'll remember this activity as a great send home idea. Remember when our church did something similar about God's Rules? Same kind of hilarity.

Love it.

It's a Fire Truck...No, It's Santa's Sleigh!

Day #17: Wait around for something to scare the living daylights out of your children and MAKE THEM WALK TOWARD IT

Today was AE's Christmas party at school. She did her cookie exchange, made ginger bread houses and cried because I packed HJ's peanut butter and jelly sandwich in HER lunch bag. What's a mom to do?

Around lunch time I stopped back by HJ's classroom to surprise her teacher with a Christmas present that all the moms pooled together for her. She was overwhelmed and amazed. It was a lovely moment. I shed a tear or two.

Miss Vanessa is a young woman in school who wants to go into full-time missions. Her mother died last year of cancer, and she's been having car trouble. She loves Olive Garden, rock candy and Bath & Body Works, so we made a basket for her and also gave her an envelope of cash to get her car fixed.

Both the girls had their last day at school today, but we hope we'll be seeing Miss Vanessa again soon. She will be our Go-To-Girl when we need a babysitter down here!

This evening I baked a red velvet cake only to mash it up to make THESE. Have you ever had them? It's my first time making them, and I hope they turn out.

Then I got the girls ready for bed, but threw them a curve ball by making them put on socks and shoes. I tweeted about what our city's fire department does each year earlier this week and tonight was the night.

As soon as we opened the front door for the surprise, the fire engine turned on the sirens and this was what was behind the engine:

Santa's Sleigh!

It stopped in front of my next door neighbor's house, so I was able to subtle-y sneak in a few pictures of their house:

(Side yard displays not included.)

Back on our front porch:

Don't you love it?

I said, "Give me your biggest smiles!"

Thanks to the folks who weighed in on Santa a few days ago.

My feelings were spawned by Jaime's post. If you haven't read it, go over and visit her to get her take on the subject. She's my friend who went to Africa on the same mission trip as us. Love her and her family: their adoption became official and complete TODAY! It's a great story of God's plan, so get clicking! Read their story. (Scroll to the bottom to start at the beginning.)

And if you're in Atlanta, Jamie and her husband are excellent photographers!

*this is NOT a paid advertisement! they're just our friends!